The Fearless Four!
by A. E. Stover
Summary: [AU] A international program at the BBA offers scholarships to "world class" level beybladers to study abroad in exchange for teaching and training rookie and junior class bladers worldwide. This is Tyson's chance to see the big world (for free!). He's not about to screw it up... Until he gets there, at least. GAG-FIC; COMMUNAL LIVING


_**The Fearless Four!  
**_original concept by **Diet Soda  
**re-written by **A. E. Stover **(with permission!)**  
**this version is **not edited**

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Originally written for a Beyblade role-playing community at LiveJournal by _**Diet Soda**_, "FLASH" is a part of a collection of one-shots and related shorts revolving around the lives of Tyson, Kai, Rei, and Max in their college years.

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—**CHAPTER ONE****—  
**_flash_

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\(;≧∇≦) /

Emerging out of the steamy bathroom clad in only a white towel, Kai angrily looked up and down the hall. The silence and emptiness of the hallway irked him to no ends, until his ears caught the unmistakable sound of a barely-contained guffaw coming down the hallway. Kai grit his teeth and growled something fierce low in his throat, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Tyson was dead meat.

Gripping the towel around his waist, Kai raced down the carpeted hallway with wet feet. Just as he zoomed past all the bedrooms, he saw a flash of red flying down the stairs. Stealthily, Kai approached the stairs. He came just in time to see Tyson jump off the last two steps.

"Tyson! Give me the phone!"

Though Kai's shout did little to stop him, Tyson did look over his shoulder. The hilarity on Tyson's face quickly melting away to be replaced with horror gave Kai _some_ satisfaction with his efforts so far. The younger teen kept his phone in a tight grasp, refusing to surrender it.

In that moment, Kai knew that his angry outburst hardly had the desired effect; Tyson moved the hand that held his phone away from Kai's view and bolted away from the stairs.

"Ty-son-!" Kai came down the steps with thundering feet; a chill ran down his spine as he ran into the dead-end of a kitchen he'd seen Tyson run into, and the notion of tearing that phone away and breaking it over that idiot's skull gave him new fervor in his case.

Peals of laughter from the kitchen quickly stomped down his fervor. Kai slowly came to a halt, heart hammering in his chest from the adrenaline rush that was still whoosing through his bloodstream, and stopped with a sound slap of his foot on black kitchen tiles.

The laughter cut abruptly.

Rei tried look away innocuously, staring hard at the fruit bowl on the counter as if the apples and bananas would turn into kittens any minute, while Max pressed both hands on top of each other over his mouth, cheeks inflated with remnants of giggles.

They would both die, Kai decided. He turned his head to the third teen in the kitchen, who stood with his back against the side of the refrigerator and one foot slowly inching toward the table. Kai following Tyson's inching foot to the table and read in the proximity of the table to the kitchen island counter the idiot's intent to escape over the counter, through the den, and out of the house. Kai viciously breathed out through his nose, nostrils flaring. Over his _**dead body**_, that was going to happen, Kai swore to himself as he approached the idiot frozen to the fridge.

"H-Hey, Kai...! Did you enjoy your shower?"

Kai ignored him and fisted the front of Tyson's shirt.

Tyson gave a nervous laugh as he was lifted off the ground, open palms coming up at either side of his head (his phone was gone, Kai noted; was it in his pocket...?) in a sign of surrender. Then Tyson gave a pointed look at Kai's fist in front of him. He wrinkled his nose. "...You washed your hand, right?"

"You're dead," Kai snarled, pressing the teen hard against the fridge.

"Okay! Okay!" Tyson squealed in panic, his arms flailing about around him. "I'm sorry! Sorry! I won't - I won't do it again! I swear!"

"The phone," Kai only ground out, loosening his grip on Tyson's shirt as the teen started to give in.

Tyson scowled. "Can ya let go of me first? Jeez..."

Kai did, though he kept his eyes on him.

Tyson made a show of patting himself over, then sighed and jerked his head to the side. "Max has it."

"What?" Kai all but squawked, whipping his head to the blond. Then, he realized he'd been echoed, and by the time Kai registered Max's look of shock and utter betrayal, a knee slammed up to his stomach. Kai doubled over in surprised pain, and took in a few short breaths.

"Tyson!" This time, it was Max who shouted. The usually peppy blond had a dark storm over his face. "You backstabber! I hope Kai kills you for this!"

A low chortle came from Max's side, and Kai turned a threatening stare at Rei. Rei quickly cleared his throat, smile betraying his otherwise calm features, and looked elsewhere. "You better catch up," he warned, finally turning back. "You wouldn't want Tyson to inform the whole world about what you do in the shower, do you?"

No sooner than the words had left Rei's mouth did Max of all people jab their dark-haired friend in the side.

Kai opened his mouth in retort, but Max slammed a hand on the counter. "Tyson's getting away!" he cried urgently, and that was all Kai needed to chase Tyson down. He sped out of the kitchen, past the den, and was out of the house after Tyson in less than five seconds.

A tense silence fell upon Max and Rei in the kitchen as they evaluated the extent of damage caused.

"Tyson doesn't know the neighborhood," Max said slowly.

"...Kai's not wearing any pants," Rei added, scratching the side of his face.

"..."

"..."

The two remained stock-still in the kitchen for what seemed like minutes on end, going over the course of events when suddenly, a blood-curdling scream sounded somewhere in the distance. Joining the sound was the sound of screeching tires and, soon after, other shouts and blaring car alarms.

Max and Rei looked at each other, nervous smiles plastered on their faces for a long, long time.

Suddenly, the front door opened.

Someone stepped through the doorway and shut the door softly. Footsteps creaked along the stairs and padded overhead on the second floor. In a few more minutes, those same footsteps creaked down the stairs and echoed back here, to the kitchen. Kai was in one piece, wearing a black sweater and jeans. Without a word, he reached between the duo standing by the counter and grabbed an apple. Then he turned back to the sink to rinse the fruit.

"I got the phone back," he announced. He made it sound like he was telling them what the weather is like.

Max and Rei exchanged looks. They asked simultaneously:

"What happened to Tyson-?" "We heard screams and car alarms-"

Kai soundly chopped the apple in half down its core, silencing them. He cut and peeled the fruit, and in minutes had arranged the sliced apples on plate and carried it with him out of the kitchen.

"He'll live," came the quiet response as he made his way up the stairs.

Max and Rei exchanged another look. Then, in a flurry of motion, Max sped out the door while Rei scrambled for a phone.

And nobody bothered Kai in the shower again.

\(;≧∇≦) /

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